Selecting the roof type for your building can be harder than you think. Your roofs play a great role in protecting your house and shaping the style and look of your building. There are many types of roof, and the following are some of those:
Gable roofs are also known as peaked roof, and they are quite popular in the United States. You can identify gable roof by their triangle shape. If you live in an area where you have constant rainfall or snowfall you can consider having gable rooftops as it will shed water and snow easily. These rooftops allow more space in the attic, and you will have more ventilation. The design is very simple and easy to build. It is quite risky to have gable roofs if you are in a hurricane-prone zone as these types of rooftops can easily collapse in high winds if the frames are not strongly constructed.
Hip Roof types have slopes on all the sides, and they are of equal length. The sides of the roof come together and form a ridge at the top. The Hip roof is built with an inward slope, and thus it is more stable when compared to a gable roof. These roof types are perfect for snowy and windy areas as the slanted roof will shed the snow and water away easily. Hip roof types are slightly more expensive when compared to gable roofs.
Mansard roof is a French-styled roof where all the four sides of the roof have a double slope, and each side of the roof forms a low pitched roof. The lower parts of the roof are steeper than the upper part. The sides of the roof are mostly curved, but depending on the design it can be made flat too. Mansard roofs provide extra space. If you are planning to have additional floors to your building you can have mansard roofs as these roofs provide great flexibility to make various additions. However if you happen to live in areas where you have heavy snowfall these rooftops are not ideal, and it is also expensive to construct a mansard roof.
The gambrel roof is more like a mansard roof, but you have only two sides in a gambrel roof. The lower part of the roof has a steep roof when compared to the upper part. Most of the Gambrel roofs can be seen on Georgian styled homes. They provide a good amount of extra space, and it is also very simple to frame the roof. The construction is quite easy, and you will not need many materials to build a gambrel roof. However, these roof types are not recommended for areas which have heavy snow and rainfall as it would collapse under pressure.